
MR. ^EDWARDS’ ADDRESS 

BEFORE 

THE ADELPHIC UJSriON 

OF 


WILLIAMS COLLEGE. 








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omtimmv, a phmsopm op pmcipusi 


AN ADDRESS 


DELIVERED BEFORE 

THE ADELPHIC UNION 


WILLIAMS COLLEGE, 

'■--— \ 

August 17 , 1841 , 


BY TRYON EDWARDS. 






TROY, N. Y.: 

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N. TUTTLR, PRINTER, CCXXV. RIVER-STREET. 

1841 . 














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TO 

THE MEMBERS 

OF 

THE ADELPHIC UNION 

OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE, 

BEFORE WHOM IT WAS ORIGINALLY DELIVERED, AND AT WHOSE 
REQUEST IT IS NOW PUBLISHED, THIS 

ADDRESS 

IS RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED, 

BY 


THE AUTHOR. 








5 


ADDRESS. 


Gentlemen op the Adelphic Union : 

“To a subject,” says an old writer, “is harder 

than to treat it—to find it, more difficult than to make it 
find its way to the minds and hearts of others.” If it was 
so then^ it seems far different ncm, "With an object and 
an audience like the present, subjects of deep and thrilling 
interest start forth, like summoned spirits, on every side. 
They are subjects of the deepest theoretical interest—of 
the highest practical importance—subjects for the pro- 
foundest argument, or the richest fancy—subjects that 
might well task the mightiest intellect, or tame the wildest, 
the most daring imagination. To “choose” from them is 
easy. It is only to stoop down to the diamond pile, and 
pluck any one from the bright and dazzling heap^ But 
“to treat” it—so to polish and set the gem as best to dis¬ 
play its richness and splendor—this is the labor, this the ar¬ 
duous work. 

A subject I have chosen of the deepest interest and mo¬ 
ment to those who are soon to go forth to the high respon¬ 
sibilities of life—of interest and moment alike to their own 
characters, and to their influence on others. Borne on¬ 
ward by the strength which itself affords, my endeavor 



6 


will be so to present it that it may not be uninteresting or 
in vain to you. That subject is Christianity as a Philoso¬ 
phy of Principles. In dwelling on this topic, I speak not 
of Christianity as a religion^ but as a philosophic system — 
not as a spiritual scheme for another life^ but a philoso¬ 
phy hearing on this. I would take up the philosophy of 
Nazareth, (without irreverence, I trust,) as I would that of 
Epicurus or Aristotle—^looking to its value as a practical 
system. And as Plato, if a touch of the resurrection were 
to set him before us, might urge the value of his system, so 
would I urge the value of the one before us, as a philosophy 
not only most safe and true, but as the wisest and best the 
world has ever known, both for the character, and the con¬ 
duct of life. In doing this, as already said, I dwell not on it 
as a religion —that were a theme for the pulpit—but as a 
philosophy for common life. And passing by all other points, 
I fix upon the single thought, that Christianity is pre¬ 
eminently A PHILOSOPHY NOT OF RULES, BUT OF PRINCIPLES. 

Every system of religion is; a philosophy, and the same is 
true of Christianity. Assuming, then, that the latter is a 
correct, a true system, I fix upon it as its glory and excel¬ 
lence, that it is a system not of rules^ but of principles. 
Drawing illustrations alike from religions and philosophies, 
I would endeavor to unfold this thought—^noticing first, 
the fact, and then its advantages, as they rise in their order 
before us. 

I. The fact. By a ride, I mean that direction which 
applies but to a single case, or only to cases of the same 
nature ; by a principle, that general direction which covers 
whole classes of cases, inculcating the spirit, the temper 
that is applicable to all. The one is of specific, the other 
of general statement and apphcation. The one fixes on 
the individual act, and on the external performance; the 
other on the spirit and the reason of conduct. The one is 



7 


like the dwarf of the Arab fable, that could do but a single 
act, and then must die ; the other like the magic phials of 
the same fable, each one full of spirits, ready to rise, like 
angels, to any work, as the occasion may demand. That 
Chinese mechanic worked only by rule^ who when he was 
directed to copy a rare vessel which had been cracked, co¬ 
pied not only the vessel, but the very crack that had ren¬ 
dered it useless. One whose mind had been enlarged and 
liberalized by a general principle, would at once have seen 
that the only object in sending for the new one was to 
avoid this very defect. Illustrating the difference between 
the two from the system of which we are speaking, the 
Pharisees acted on the rule, when adhering to the anti¬ 
quated tradition of the elders, they uniformly washed their 
hands before eating—in itself a matter of little importance 
one way or the other ; and in that other and more abomi¬ 
nable case, in which by formally saying of what a parent 
might absolutely need, “Corban,” “it is a gift,” “it is 
consecrated to a sacred use,” they justified themselves in 
the utter outrage of every filial obligation and feeling. 
The Saviour rose far above the rule to the principle, when 
instead of the mere washing of hands, he directed to puri¬ 
ty of heart, which if possessed, would lead in all things to 
purity of life; and when he stated the great and ever bind¬ 
ing injunction, “Honor thy father and mother,” which 
would ever lead to a filial spirit and to filial conduct. 
And, to mention but one more case, the Pharisees looked 
to the rule when they charged the disciples with violating 
the Sabbath, because in their hunger they plucked the ears 
of corn to eat; but Jesus looked through and beyond the 
rule to the principle when he justified them in doing it, on 
the ground that mercy is better than sacrifice, and that the 
Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 
And so it is throughout the New Testament. There is 


8 


scarcely a rule on its pages; and where there is, it is as 
with the maxims of Franklin, or the proverbs of Solomon, 
that the rule is there inwoven with the principle^ which is 
implied in its statement, and on which it rests; so that 
these seeming, and only seeming exceptions, so far from 
invalidating^ do but confirm the position, that the Christian¬ 
ity which it sets forth, is a philosophy 7iot of specific rules^ 
but of great principles. Not that I mean that it is a sys¬ 
tem of abstractions^ for nothing could be more definite and 
minute than all its illustrations of truth:—of Divine provi¬ 
dence, for example, in clothing the lilies with beauty, and 
feeding the ravens when they cry; and of his care for our¬ 
selves, as set forth in the expression, that even the hairs of 
our heads are all numbered. But while nothing could be 
more definite and plain and simple than its illustrations of 
truth and duty, still that truth and duty are laid down in 
great principles. No where, for example, does Christian¬ 
ity tell me how much of my property to give in doing 
good ) but every where it inculcates the great principle of 
benevolence, and every where reminds me that in all my 
possessions, I am but the steward of Him that hath given 
them. No where does it tell me what specific acts to per¬ 
form as a student, or a man of business; but every where 
it calls me to redeem my time—to be diligent in business, 
and to render to all their dues. No where does it give a 
rule specifying precisely what shall be my actions toward 
another; but it does lay down ihe great principle, ‘‘that 
I love my neighbor as myself,” and that “whatsoever I 
would that he should do to me, I should do the same to 
him.” The child, the servant, the ruler, it no where tells 
what are exactly their specific acts of relative duty ; but it 
does enjoin on the one, the principle, the spirit of obe¬ 
dience to masters—on the other that of honoring their pa¬ 
rents in all things—and on the last, the great commanding 


9 


principle that they ever rule in the fear of God. It ever 
gives us, and this is the glory of any system of philosophy, 
not the mere rule^ which is applicable in but the single 
case, but the general principle^ which is of universal appli¬ 
cation.—I have thus endeavored to make plain what I 
mean by the distinction between rules and principles^ and 
that Christianity, as a philosophy, is a system of the latter— 
a philosophy of great general principles. What, then, 

II. Are the advantages of such a system ? In reply, 
I answer. 

That it is one great advantage of it, that it affords at the 
same time a complete^ and yet] a condensed directory of 
action. In one of these points,' any system of mere rules 
must of necessity be defective. If on the one hand, it is 
convenient in size, then its range of application must be 
limited; but if, on the other, it aims to be extensively ap¬ 
plicable, just in the same proportion is it unwieldly and 
cumbrous. For either of these reasons, it is impossible 
that any system of rules, that any system except one of 
principles should meet the endless emergencies of life. 
But both these defects are met in the system of Christiani¬ 
ty. Designed as that system was for universality, for all 
possibilities of earthly circumstance and being, it is one of 
principles. So applicable are these, that they sweep the 
entire range of time and humanity, and yet so comprehen¬ 
sive, that they are given, I had almost said, in a word. It 
is easy, it takes but a syllable, to lay down the general 
principle, ‘‘be kind,” “be honest,” “be useful;” and yet 
to enumerate all the specific acts involved in being a man 
of real honesty, or kindness, or usefulness, for a single 
month or day even, this would require volumes. But when 
from a single individual, we go to the millions of all man¬ 
kind, and when from a single day or month to the entire 
range of earth’s existence, it is plain that if we were to lay 


10 


down rules^ that is, specific directions for every possible, or 
even real action, the world itself would not contain the 
books that should be written. It is an immense advantage 
then of Christianity, as a philosophy, that its system is one, 
not of rules but of principles^ because thus as a directory of 
action, it is at the same time condensed and complete; and 
thus where the mere statement of the rules^ needful for the 
wise conduct of life, would have been well nigh impossible, 
X]\e principles cover, in a word, the whole necessary ground. 

It is another advantage of Christianity, as a philosophy 
of principles, that it is thus fitted for universality, for all 
circumstances, and for every age. The suggestion has 
been started by the opponents of Christianity, that it is 
but one of the many forms of philosophy that have risen, 
and lived, and passed away, giving from their graves no 
promise of a resurrection; that like them, like Moham¬ 
medanism, or Brahmanism, it is to have its day, and, then, 
in its turn, die off, and give place to some other system more 
expanded in its nature, and better fitted to the expanding 
wants of humanity. But such objectors seem to overlook 
the fact, that unlike the many other and false systems that 
the world has known, Christianity is pre-eminently a sys¬ 
tem not of forms, or even of rules, but of principles, and 
of principles founded in right and truth, and which, of 
course, must exist forever. Look into the Koran for exam¬ 
ple, and you will find it to a great extent a system of spe¬ 
cific rules, which must from the very nature of things, pass 
away in other ages and circumstances. And so with the 
ceremonial part of the Jewish code; consisting as it did 
of forms and rules, it bore in itself the evidence that it was 
short-lived, that it could not endure but for a season. The 
dress which the former prescribes, or the multiplied daily 
washings it enjoins, both these might be very proper in the 
burning climates of the torrid zone; and yet both would be 


11 


impossible and absurd in Greenland, and there from the very 
nature of the case the system of Mahomet could not exist; 
and it shows in a striking light the poverty and wretched¬ 
ness of mere rules, that even where it does exist, its vota¬ 
ries, under the influence of contact with other nations, are 
already changing their dress, as for ages, from the difficul¬ 
ty of obtaining water, they have been driven to the idle 
form of going through their washings with sand. To say 
nothing, then, of the nature of the rules, the very fact that 
the system gives rules rather than principles, would of it¬ 
self be evidence, either of its falsehood, whether as a phi¬ 
losophy or a religion, or that it was unfitted for universal 
extension. And so with the ceremonial law of the Jews. 
The rules which it gave for Palestine more than thirty 
centuries ago, and which were then and there appropriate, 
would be useless now and to ourselves. It was comparative¬ 
ly so in fact, even in the times of our Saviour, for the cir¬ 
cumstances of Jewish society had then greatly changed, 
and their system, in the language of a most shrewd as well 
as an inspired observer, “ had waxed old, and was ready 
to vanish away.” And it was because they would close 
their eyes to the superiority of the system of Jesus, and to 
the perfection of the philosophy that he came to establish— 
it was in the vain struggle to accomodate their own system 
to a state of society far in advance of it, that the Pharisees 
so clogged, and deformed, and altered it, by commentaries, 
and explanations, and additions, that they exposed them¬ 
selves to the indignant charge of Christ, that they ‘^made 
void even the very command of God by their traditions.” 
And so if Jesus, nineteen centuries ago, had given a mere 
set of rules, they would either have been far in advance of 
the then existing state of society, and of course inapplicable 
to it; or if applicable then, they would be unfitted for pre¬ 
sent times and circumstances and people. As contrary to 


12 


all this, however, he gave a system o{ pr'inciples which are 
equally fitted for all circumstances and for every age. He 
did not direct his disciples, in a specific rule, as Moses did 
the Jews, that if they received a poor neighbor’s robe or out¬ 
er garment as a pledge, they should return it to him by sun¬ 
down, that using it for a bed, he might sleep upon it. And 
he did not, for one reason at least, because he foresaw 
that the customs of society would so change that such a 
rule would soon be unmeaning and useless. But he did 
give the great principle that we ‘4ove our neighbors as 
ourselves,” and do to them as we would have them do to 
us; ” and this not only covers the specific case, but every 
other conceivable' one of kind feeling to a fellow-being. 
And so in every case. Designing Christianity as a practi¬ 
cal and benevolent philosophy, to be universal, and of uni¬ 
versal application, he gave it, not as a system of rules 
which would soon be antiquated and obsolete, but oiprin¬ 
ciples which shall last forever, and which will ever be as 
applicable to millions on millions of freshly recurring cases, 
on to the latest ages, as when first given. 

It is another advantage of the shape in which Christiani¬ 
ty comes to us, as a philosophy, not o{rules but oiprinciples, 
that such a system is best fitted to develope and form our 
characters, and to mould us at the same time for efficiency 
and intelligence of action. Rules are smaller, principles 
larger than ourselves. To act on mere rules tends to’cir¬ 
cumscribe the views, and to shackle and dwarf the charac¬ 
ter, to render the actor almost as mechanical as the rule 
on which he acts. To act, however, onprinciples, enlarges 
and expands the mind, and liberalizes all the faculties and 
feelings. Every real principle is vast, both in itself and its 
bearings—vast as the heavens that are over us; and as to 
gaze upon those heavens swells the soul with sublime emo¬ 
tion, so to contemplate the principle, to dwell upon it, to 


13 


act upon it, elevates and expands our natures, and makes 
us higher and nobler beings. It throws us, too, upon our 
own judgment in the constant application of the general 
principle to the individual case, and thus compels us to 
think, and reason, and judge, and decide for ourselves. 
And this is the course, and the only course that developes 
and strengthens the character, and makes the man. Let 
the physician or the lawyer act mechanically, merely on 
some given form or rule, doing precisely as he has seen 
another do, without knowing the reason why he does it, and 
he will not only cramp his own mind, but will disgrace 
himself, and peril, if not ruin the interests intrusted to his 
care. But let him be familiar with the great principles 
of his profession, and their very reception will have ex¬ 
panded his nature, and not only will he improve with 
every effort to apply them, but he will soon learn to ap¬ 
ply them, with ease, to every individual case; and as the 
result of all, will almost of necessity become a man of 
mental activity, and vigor, and power. And so it is with 
divine truth, bearing as a philosophy on the entire range of 
life. Give us merely the rule^ and we may be conformed to 
it, we may be obedient, but it will rarely be with intelligence 
or interest, or any thing like high conceptions of the bear¬ 
ing of our conduct. But let us have principles before us, 
and our minds are enlarged by the very process of obedi¬ 
ence, by the necessary exercise of our judgment in studying 
out their nature and bearings, by the very application of 
our principles to our practice. The rule makes the form¬ 
alist ; the principle the spiritualist. The former is almost 
ever found in its strength where the darkness of supersti¬ 
tion reigns; the latter^ like the light of heaven, disperses 
that darkness, and pours the radiance of truth upon the 
path. The mere rule inclines us to the idleness oipassive 
habits; the principle^ to the energy of those that are active. 


14 


former limits to those narrow views which lead to in¬ 
ertness and timidity, and to that weak self-distrust, which 
is but another name for inefficiency ; the latter^ like the 
breath of God, fills us with a lofty courage, putting us in full 
faith on the mightiest undertakings, high though they are as 
the very heavens. Give me the mere and you con¬ 
fine me to the one beaten track and make me, I had almost 
said, the mere machine. But give me the principle^ and 
you draw out and develope my character, and if it does 
not rouse and fire me like an inspiration, it, at least, makes 
me intelligently strong, and active, and earnest. The rule 
is of man, and it leaves me to my own human weakness. 
The principle is of God, and it so clothes me in his strength, 
that in it I can thresh down the mountains. The difference 
between the two is the difference between the mere child, 
who beholds, and it may be is pleased with the fall of the ap¬ 
ple, and the Newton, who from this seemingly unmeaning 
event, rises sublimely to the mighty law that holds the 
worlds to their orbits, while it rolls them on in their endless 
course. It is the difference between the man who knows 
the right only as in the specific case it is repeated to him, and 
the larger and nobler man who is armed by the principle for 
every emergency, and of whom it may well be said, that 
he is thoroughly furnished for every good work. The one 
has only the rule^ and he is shackled and hedged in by it; the 
other has the principle, and with it the two great elements 
of force, vastness of plan, and vigor of action. The prin¬ 
ciple developes these elements, and rouses and fires all the 
energies of the being. And in the consciousness of their 
strength, and in the confidence, as it were, of a higher and 
better nature, the individual becomes indeed a new crea¬ 
ture. A constant and mighty inspiration is upon his spirit; 
boundaries give way before him; thought breaks forth 
emancipate ; and the wide world becomes to him but one 


15 


vast action-field, in which nothing is too high for his darings, 
too vast for his energies! Raised, as it were, above him¬ 
self, and out of himself, he is able with the immortal Kep¬ 
ler sublimely to exclaim, “ O Lord! thy thoughts I think, 
thy ways I follow.” It is the advantage, then, the glory 
of Christianity, as a philosophic system, that as a. system, 
not of rules but principles^ it is every way fitted, as it was 
designed, to develope and form our characters, to mould 
them to proportion, and harmony, and strength, and us to 
intelligent, and far-seeing, and tireless efficiency. 

It is still another advantage of this form of Christianity, 
that it thus best impresses us ivith our own obligations^ mak¬ 
ing us thoughtful and loatchful^ and ever keeping up the 
remembrance and the sense of our probation. Probation, 
with all its obligations and perils, with all its possibilities for 
weal or wo, is no less d^fact in Philosophy than a doctrine 
of Religion. It was held, though crudely, by the sages of 
the schools. But it is only in the system before us that it 
is fully, and clearly, and rationally unfolded. There it is 
we are taught, and reason and common observation re¬ 
spond to its truth, that our characters are every moment 
at test, that by every event and influence of life we are 
rising or falling as mental, and social, and moral beings. 
There is not a moment that passes; not an incident that 
occurs, or a friend that we meet, or a word that is spoken, 
or a book that we read ; not a thought that springs up in 
the silence of the spirit; not an obligation that is pondered; 
not a study, or profession, or calling we undertake ; not a 
joy that enraptures the heart, or a sorrow that rends it, but 
by it we are affected and changed in our entire being. As 
it is a truism in physics that action and re-action are equal, 
and that the least body striking upon the earth imparts its 
own motion to the solid globe,'so every influence of life 
leaves its impress upon ourselves. And of all these count- 


16 


less influences, it is true, that by every one we are modified; 
that every one of them is as the fiery chariot of the prophet, 
bearing us to the skies, or as the mill-stone about our necks 
sinking us to the depths of the sea ; that every one of them 
is like falling water to us, drop by drop, wearing away our 
hardness, or drop by drop, like that which falls in the cav¬ 
erns of the earth, casing us with incrustations of stone. 
But if such be our probation as a philosophic fact, then, in 
the light of it, we see the immense advantage of a system 
of principles^ rather than of rules, as the guide of our 
course. Leave us to mere rules, and even amid the fear¬ 
ful and petrifying possibilities, which to us are every mo¬ 
ment becoming the petrified and changeless certainties of 
life, we easily become careless and heedless, giving our¬ 
selves up mechanically and listlessly to be swept along in 
their channel by the current of habit, which is too often the 
current of death. But cast us upon great principles, the 
meaning and bearing of which we are constantly to study, 
lest we mistake either them or their application, and it will 
make us watchful, and careful, and thoughtful. Amid all 
the hazards of our onward progress, and the dangers that 
are in ambush for us on every side, it will not only nerve 
us for conflict, but fill us with caution. It will make us 
feel our individuality, and the high responsibility that at¬ 
taches to it. It will keep our probation continually in our 
view, as though God were forever throwing it afresh upon 
us, as though he were ever saying, here are the great prin¬ 
ciples of action that are to guide your conduct, and now 
take them, and carry them out, and apply them in all the va¬ 
rying circumstances and scenes of life, and so apply them 
as to come off victor in every conflict, and to form yourself 
for all that is high, or useful, or glorious. 

Such, then, is the philosophy of Nazareth—a philosophy 
not of rules but of principles. And it is its excellence and 


17 


glory that it is so—its value as a practical system : for 
thus it affords, at the same time, a condensed and yet a 
complete directory of action; thus it is fitted for universal¬ 
ity—for every possibility, whether of circumstance or time; 
thus it is best adapted to develope and form our charac¬ 
ters—to mould us alike for intelligence and efficiency of 
action; and thus it most deeply impresses us with our ob¬ 
ligations, making us thoughtful and watchful, and ever 
keeping up the remembrance and the sense of our proba¬ 
tion, in which we are to form ourselves for all our future 
being. 

Easily might I bring before you several other advan¬ 
tages of every system of practical philosophy which is one 
of principles rather than of rules —advantages that are 
found in all their fulness in the system before us. Or I 
might go on to unfold some of its principles, all of which 
are of the deepest interest and moment. But on the for¬ 
mer I have already dwelt at, perhaps, too great length; 
and the latter are ever open before you in that volume, 
which in the glorious firmament of philosophies, is the 
brightest star that gems it—in that volume, which alike to 
the philosopher and the Christian, is the brightest orb that 
from those heavens beams upon his view.—Leaving, then, 
the general subject, as already sufficiently discussed, I 
would close with a few thoughts which it suggests. And 
of these one of the first that rises to the mind is. 

That the Christian system bears^ in its very statement^ 
evidence that it is divine. The great problem of humanity 
has ever been, to fix upon some system at the same time 
of philosophy and religion, which should bear in itself evi¬ 
dence of its own divinity. Plato, with his perfect man, 
seemed groping for it. Cicero wondered if he ever should 
behold it. And the human heart, with its eager pantings 
for truth, with its undying yearnings for immortality, has 


18 


ever longed for it. But never has it been found, unless in 
the system before us; and that it is found there, our sub* 
ject shows by a single but most important test, that that 
system is one of principles, which are at the same time cor¬ 
rect and universal. Of all false systems, as we have seen 
of that of the Koran, it is characteristic, that they deal 
not in principles but in rules. And rules do have and can 
have no application except to the age and circumstances 
in which they are given. So that the very rules to which 
Mahomet appealed to show his inspiration, are now con¬ 
clusive proof of his imposture and falsehood. I do not 
mean that such rules prove that his system was bad—that 
in itself it was evil; that depends on other things; but 
they do prove that as a system, whether of philosophy or 
religion, it never could be universal —that it must be con¬ 
fined to the range of countries where it originated, and 
that even there, as civilization shall increase, it must decay 
and die. As opposed, however, to this, and to all other 
false systems, whether of philosophy or religion, Christian¬ 
ity is a system of principles, and of right principles; and 
every such system must exist forever. Of necessity it is 
universal, and if once applicable to men, it is forever so, 
on to endless ages! Such a system, I repeat, is the sys¬ 
tem of Jesus—one that has escaped the grand defect of 
every other system the world has ever seen—one that, as 
a philosophy, has escaped the grand defect of all the 
schools, and, as a religion, the grand defect of every pre¬ 
tender to divinity. That it is a system of principles, and 
of right principles, is plain on its face; and that it is appli¬ 
cable to mankind, is evident from all experience, and even 
infidels have admitted this, while denying its divine origin. 
But if once applicable to us as moral beings, then it must 
continue to be applicable, so long as we are moral beings^ 
that is, forever! And this can be true of no system that is 


19 


not divine. The very fact that a system is at the same 
time truly good, and of strictly universal application, is 
evidence of its divinity—for none but the Infinite could 
have devised it. Here, then, is the philosophy for which 
sages have sought—the religion for which the soul of hu¬ 
manity has longed and groaned; it is found in the system 
of Nazareth. Again: 

How admirably is this system fitted to develope and 
strengthen and perfect the character. It is so, not merely 
by the duties to which it directs, and the motives which it 
arrays, and the truths which it unfolds, and the scenes to 
which it points us, though all these are as far higher and 
sublimer than those of falsQ religions, as the heavens are 
higher than the earth ; but it is so peculiarly by the disci¬ 
pline which it gives us in the application of its principles to 
our own conduct, by, if I may so speak, the course of self- 
discipline and self-training for the heavens to which we are 
directed by its perfect teachings. Where the false or the 
temporary system would point us—the former to some 
silly, and the latter to some arbitrary observance; where 
the Mohammedan would prescribe his washings, and the 
Anchorite the counting of his beads, and the Pharisee the 
tithing of his mint and anise and cummin, and the Cynic 
the maceration of the body—the tendency of all of which, 
in the spirit in which they were performed, must of neces¬ 
sity be to contract and belittle the mind, Christianity calls 
us to be familiar with great principles, to understand and 
apply them. It calls us to be Christians, and the very pro¬ 
cess and progress of a living Christian are ever expanding. 
It throws us upon our own resources and judgment, and by 
the very process of obedience, makes men of us. It has 
been said, that the man who spends his life in making the 
heads of pins, as thousands do in the work-shops of Great 
Britain, has his mind gradually contracted to then* size. 


20 


And so it is with the man of mere rules—that as a man he 
is constantly in a process of contraction—as if mental and 
moral astringents were ever at their work upon him. He, 
on the other hand, that deals with principles, and with 
great principles, like those of Christianity, cannot but be 
expanding and growing—like the eminent divines of the 
sixteenth century, who by their deep and constant inter¬ 
course with these very principles, became mental and mo¬ 
ral giants. And by all, in every age, the more this system 
is studied, the more will it develope and strengthen and 
perfect the character and the entire being—pointing us to 
all that is high and holy and godlike—guiding us, as the 
star in the east did the wise men of old, nearer and nearer 
to the sum of all perfection ! 

How great then is our responsibility in being the reci¬ 
pients of a system like this, and how deep and solemn our 
obligation to study and understand it, that we may apply it 
to our own conduct. Amid the deep darkness of antiquity, 
the very teachings of a Plato would bear, with their own 
light and excellence, a deepened responsibility to his dis¬ 
ciples ; and so, in a later age, would the teachings, for in¬ 
stance, of a Luther. Far more so do the teachings of that 
Book, of which Bacon hath said, “that never did any sys¬ 
tem, whether of religion or law or discipline, so highly ex¬ 
alt the public good;” and Boyle, that “it is a matchless 
volume, which it is impossible to study too much, or exalt 
too highly and Newton, in almost the very sentiment of 
our subject, that “ it is the noblest and sublimest of all phi¬ 
losophies.” Of that Book we are far too prone to think 
and speak as of one that is easily understood—as demand¬ 
ing but little thought or investigation or study. Now if it 
were a mere system of meagre rules, this might be so ; it 
might all be understood, as it were, at a glance, compara¬ 
tively with but little effort. But it is far more than this. 


21 


It is a system of vast and eternal principles —principles of 
almost unlimited sweep—of well nigh endless application ; 
principles that have a bearing, and a most important bear- 
ing, on all the circumstances and relations and duties of 
life. A rule is comparatively an unimportant thing. The 
consequences, whether of its observance or violation may 
often terminate with itself, or with the single act; and its 
effects upon the character are mainly important from their 
relation to the habits of the individual. But a principle 
may be applicable to millions upon millions of cases, and 
to misunderstand or misapply it, may be to be wrong, and 
to do wrong in all these millions of specific acts; may be 
to take the first one of millions of guilty steps ; may be to 
plant the poison in the soul, which there shall be working, 
and rankling, and burning in for endless ages, doing its 
own dark and terrible work upon the spirit, and binding it 
to results of wo from which there is no escape forever. 

. To understand enough of Christianity, as a scheme of sal¬ 
vation to be saved by it, I grant is easy, just as it is easy to 
understand enough of gravitation to walk without falling; 
but as the latter, in its bearings on the wide universe, might 
well exhaust the powers of a Newton, and then leave him 
in his own sublimely simple and modest expression, feeling 
like a little child who was but just sporting on the shores of 
the vast ocean of truth, so in the former, with its principles 
of endless application, there is enough to task to the ut¬ 
most all our powers, and to all eternity. How important, 
then, to understand the great principles of the philosophy 
of Christianity as a practical system, to feel that its depths 
and bearings are endless, and inwoven with every thread 
of our own destiny, and ever and diligently to study them, 
that thus they may be a light to our feet, pouring the full 
sun-light of heaven on our path. Deep, indeed, is our re¬ 
sponsibility in receiving this great system of principles— 


22 


deeper will be our loss, our condemnation, if through our 
own neglect we fail to understand it. I cannot but add, 
in closing. 

How serious and personal the tones in which this subject 
addresses ourselves. Invited by your kindness, I have come 
as the humble votary of Philosophy, to speak to you of her 
excellence and her charms. But I cannot forget, nor 
would you have me, that the Philosophy of which I have 
spoken is at the same time a Religion, and that of that re¬ 
ligion I am the minister, bearing my office with me where- 
ever I may go, whether to the groves of learning, or to the 
altar of God. I cannot forget that that philosophy, that 
that religion, must have bearings of infinite moment on 
each of us, and that when we again meet, as soon we 
must in other scenes, it will appear to have been inweaving 
itself through all our earthly course, with our weal or wo 
eternal. Let it, then, be impressed upon us that Christian¬ 
ity, as it is a system of principles, and of right principles, is 
of course to exist forever, and bind forever. In all its ob¬ 
ligations, in every thought, and feeling, and temper, and 
spirit which it enjoins, it will live and reign in eternity as 
well as in time, and there as well as here will stand for¬ 
ever. But if as a system it is thus to last in all its fullness 
and might for endless ages, then in eternity we must be 
conformed to it, or perish beneath it. If we are conformed 
to it, if like tfte bright star* which is the gem of one of the 
richest constellations of the heavens, we are ever found at 
the foot of the cross, then, as sure as truth is eternal, we 
are forever safe and happy. Faith will guide our know¬ 
ledge, and knowledge enlighten our faith, and on both, as 
on angel wings, we shall ever be soaring to the heavens. 
But if we are not conformed to it, if our character and 
hopes, and prospects are resting on any other foundation, 


# The star Albireo. 


23 


then will this system make fearful work with them. Like 
the leaf before the whirlwind’s sweep, or the lightning’s 
stroke, they shall be dashed to ruin—endless—eternal! 
Let us, then, see to it, that on them we are building our 
hopes, and resting our prospects. Do this and we are for¬ 
ever safe, and their triumph shall be our triumph, and their 
victory our salvation. But ah! neglect to do it, refuse to 
do it, and their progress, their establishment, their triumph, 
is our ruin ; and the very shouts and paeans that ring from 
a ransomed universe to hail their victory and peal their 
glory, shall but echo our ruin, as we sink beneath them 
forever ! 




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